No-fly zone would ‘require war with Syria and Russia’ – General Dunford

[ Editor’s Note: You just can’t make this stuff up. General Dunford “has no facts” but he blames Russia in front of Congress for the attack on the Aleppo aid convoy. He appointed himself judge and jury, but skipped over the investigator part.

But then he goes even further into the Twilight Zone by saying that our defense industry partners need to be as “cutting edge” as we are. I can just imagine the reaction that got in Allied military commands.

Somehow I just don’t think that kind of decision making process is taught at West Point. It was put propaganda, and of course the Joint Chief of Staff was not going to buck the Secretary of Defense.

This is one of the reasons why American voters have always been wary of making generals presidents. The thought scares a lot of voters. I will date myself here by quoting the old AmericanTV show Dragnet, where the infamous Sgt. Joe Friday would say, “Just the facts ma’am, just the facts.”

Ash Carter joined the Twilight Zone parade himself with his incredible twisting the knife statement that the Russians were responsible for the aid convoy attack whether they did it or not because of their “association” with the Syrian regime.

Dear Mr. Carter, does that not make the US responsible for the 300 opposition ceasefire violations due to our “association” with our terrorist proxies? I won’t hold my breath for your answer… Jim W. Dean ]

Speaking to the US Senate, the Pentagon’s leaders blamed Russia for the Aleppo aid convoy attack, but admitted they “had no facts.” Only US coalition planes should be allowed over Syria, they said, though that would require war against both Syria and Russia.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter and General Joseph Dunford, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, faced the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday to report on the ongoing military operations and “national security challenges” faced by the US. They also asked the senators for more reliable funding, saying the uncertainty was hurting the defense industry.

“Not only our people – our defense industry partners, too, need stability and longer-term plans to be as efficient and cutting-edge as we need them to be,” Carter told the senators.

The lawmakers were far less interested in the war against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) than about the future of the Syrian government, Iran’s “malign influence,” and “aggression” by China and Russia – all ranked far ahead of terrorism on Carter and Dunford’s list of security challenges.

The Pentagon had “no intention” of sharing intelligence with Russia when it came to Syria, Dunford told the lawmakers unequivocally. Secretary Carter explained that the joint implementation councils envisioned by the ceasefire proposal negotiated in Geneva wouldn’t share intelligence, just coordinate efforts – but that they were a moot point anyway, since the ceasefire was effectively dead.

Both the lawmakers and the Pentagon chiefs blamed that development on Russia, focusing on the alleged airstrike against the humanitarian convoy in east Aleppo while the US-led airstrike against the Syrian Army fighting IS in Deir ez-Zor went unmentioned.

“I don’t have the facts,” Dunford said, when asked about the convoy attack by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut). “It was either the Russians or the regime,” he added.

“There is no doubt in my mind that the Russians are responsible,” whether directly or because they backed the government in Damascus, Dunford said, describing the attack as “an unacceptable atrocity.”

Carter explained Dunford’s logic in a response to Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), saying that “the Russians are responsible for this strike whether they conducted it or not, because they took responsibility for the conduct of the Syrians by associating themselves with the Syrian regime.”

The latest proposal by Secretary of State John Kerry involves grounding only Syrian and Russian airplanes, Carter told Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-New Hampshire).

“There can be no question of grounding US aircraft” over Syria, he said, adding that US jets conduct their strikes “with exceptional precision… that no other country can match.”

Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi) asked about what it would take for the US to impose a no-fly zone over Syria, using the phrase “control the airspace.”

“Right now… for us to control all of the airspace in Syria would require us to go to war against Syria and Russia,” Dunford replied, drawing a rebuke from committee chairman John McCain (R-Arizona), who argued a no-fly zone was possible without war.

Asked about the video of US-backed Syrian rebels insulting US Special Forces in Al-Rai and running them out of the northern Syrian town, Carter and Dunford shrugged it off.

A “very small minority took verbal action” against US troops, said Dunford, who admitted he did not watch the video but had discussed it with US commanders. He said the incident was “irrelevant” because the US-backed forces and Turkey were making “great progress” along Syria’s northern border.

In their exchange with Graham, Carter and Dunford confirmed there is a plan to arm the Kurdish militia in Syria, over Turkish objections, as a way of advancing on the IS stronghold of Raqqa. Once Raqqa is taken, however, an Arab force would be required to hold it. “We have a plan,” Dunford said, but described it as “not resourced.”

Dunford agreed with Graham’s assertion that the US had two objectives – to destroy IS and to “remove Assad,” referring to the Syrian president – but admitted the Kurds were not interested in the latter.

“If the main fighting force inside of Syria is not signed up to take Assad out, where does that force come from?” Graham asked. Neither Dunford nor Carter had an answer to that.

Both the Pentagon heads and the lawmakers agreed throughout the hearing that caps on military spending mandated by sequestration were harmful and needed to be repealed. Lack of funding posed a significant threat to readiness and maintenance, Carter and Dunford argued, before pointing out that the US military was still the strongest, most powerful and most competent in the world.

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11 Responses to "No-fly zone would ‘require war with Syria and Russia’ – General Dunford"

zman September 25, 2016 at 6:21 am

Yes, the psychopaths are on a full court press. Looked at Boris Johnsons new line of crap: “Russia could be guilty of war crimes”. Good god, the gall of these F’ing liars is truly astonishing. What is even scarier is that the majority of the public is still believing their line of bull. I guess now the tactic will be furthering the attack on Russia into the Hague. If they can buffalo the world on Yugoslavia, then they’ll try it on Russia. They know Russia won’t knuckle under and what the outcome of that will be. Truly suicidal.

Leno September 24, 2016 at 3:23 pm

The DOD is blowing off Omama. “We’ve come to a point in this craziness, in this New Cold War with Russia where DOD is openly saying it may or may not obey President Obama. If DOD will say that publicly you can imagine the opposition in Washington against the Syrian deal, [US Secretary of State John] Kerry brokered with Russian Foreign Minister [Sergei] Lavrov,” Professor Cohen highlighted.

Doc Walt September 24, 2016 at 1:55 am

Are you kidding me? Where do they get these monkeys? And this is the bozo who Fulford keeps saying is going to do something positive, perhaps someday. I hope he can find his ass when he needs to wipe it. I saw a picture of the pentagon posted here a couple of days ago and it dawned on me that it was a series of five sided circles. Must be really useful for giant circle jerks at a moment’s notice. Maybe we should ask ET to pull the plug on the DC area. Nothing but lies and stupidity exist there. However ET requires a majority and you can’t stuff the ballot boxes.

roger September 23, 2016 at 9:10 pm

wjabbe: Catholic Church has compensated victims of child molestation. You don’t specific name what means mountain of evidence on the Catholic Church is basically a secret criminal world wide Enterprise.
Read on Galilei trial, if you are familiar with it, should know that he couldn’t prove Ptolomeos XIII thesis, the accepted science at the time, was wrong. He was allowed time to improve and substatiate with tangible evidence that he couldn’t do before his death. Taking sides with Galilei or the Church denies the reality that he was sponsored by the latter. In apologizing, the Catholic Church doesn’t hide any of the relevant proceedings and conclusions but just elimintes a rift that MSM ballyhoes as Church being against science.
Now, how about you pointing on responsibility on misery spread by Jewish banking all over the US and the World, setting mankind on the edge of nuclear war and using masonry as a tool for USG wrongdoings?
Gen. Dunford, although not sharing his viewpoints, has every right to be a practicing Catholic or worship God by any other denomination. Atheism its what makes US fight wars without a just cause an spreads a rampant PTSD among those that killed innocent people and can’t live or overcome the feeling of guilt.

Trakkath September 23, 2016 at 9:28 am

Plz don´t confuse those thugs with facts while they want their war to profit from

Amelius September 23, 2016 at 8:46 am

What more do these psychopaths have to do until the entirety of the public understands that these traitors are doing everything in their power to drag us all into WW3? If Russia was aggressive, like these clowns suggest, they would have already reacted to the many previous provocations and these clowns like Dunford and Carter probably wouldn’t be breathing our air. If China wanted to destroy the US, they could do it without firing a shot. Could they not? The enemy of the USA is the USG. Plain and simple. There’s your number one security threat. The patience shown by Syria and Russia with regards to illegal US terrorist supporting intervention in Syria is beyond my comprehension. On the other hand, there are no words that come to mind that begin to describe the lies, hypocrisy and criminal insanity of the USG. For the sake of humanity, I hope these guys have a bad accident that only involves themselves. One that they can’t come back from.

Amelius September 23, 2016 at 9:10 am

The USG wants to establish a no fly zone because Syria and Russia are effectively destroying terrorists with air strikes and the USG wants to put a stop to it. The USG has no authority to do this. It would be like Assad establishing a no fly zone over America. Why doesn’t Russia and Syria establish a no fly zone over Syria and shoot down any US or Israeli jet that enters their airspace?

Trakkath September 23, 2016 at 8:01 am

Why to blame the murder if the killed person ran 5 times into his knife ?The sense of reason and logic is missed by those war- and powerhungry thugs like by every raptors

joetv September 23, 2016 at 7:22 am

Like always. Stuff like this just cannot be made up. A remake of Dr. Strangelove, no doubt. McVain’s arm snapped up as he said “yes we can”. What’s the chance of enforcing a no fly zone? Don King would have answered like this. “Slim and none, and Slim just left town”. Logic has also left town. “Ah which way did he go doc?”

petersmith September 23, 2016 at 6:35 am

I noticed that nobody seems to bring up the fact that WE, and everything that we are doing in Syria, is against the law, big time. Right now we are guilty of the supreme war crime, aggression against a legitimate nation that is also a member of the UN. The Russians are there because they were asked to be there by Syria`s legitimate President, who recently won an election by a landslide, as did Putin, unlike our bogus election process. Everything that we do in Syria, would warrant that we, and our coalition partners, be hung by the neck until dead. That is by the nuremberg principles that we, and our coalition partners set after the 2`nd world war. We really should abide by the laws and precedents that that we have established, but I don`t see that happening.

Cold Wind September 23, 2016 at 4:56 am

Upon reading the statements of Secretary Carter and General Dunford, I am once again reminded of Francisco Goya’s “ The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters”. The United States of America, this once great Republic, is in desperate need of new leadership. It’s time to wake up!

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